Day: 129
Date: Thursday, 12 September 2024
Start: Hwy 12 (but staying in Helena MT)
Finish: Marysville
Daily Kilometres: 35.4
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 3760.3
Weather: Steady rain early then mostly overcast and cold, but very cold when exposed to the wind.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Microwaved breakfast plate
Lunch: Ham, cheese & salad wraps
Dinner: Rehydrated meals
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: Around 6:30pm, we had passed by the pub in the tiny hamlet of Marysville, when were called back by a local who insisted he buy us a drink. We accepted the offer and spent a very convivial 45 minutes in the small bar chatting with drink-buyer and his wife along with a few other patrons at the bar.
Lowlight: When exposed to the wind today, which was often, it was very cold.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
The cold front that had brought the thunderstorm and heavy rain last evening also brought much lower temperatures and it was raining steadily when our Uber arrived at the motel soon after 8am. It promised to be a miserable day for hiking, with more rain forecast but, by the time the driver dropped us back where we were to resume hiking, the rain has stopped. It seemed miraculous and, in fact, it did not really rain again until we were halfway through setting up camp after 8pm. We have been fortunate with the weather for this trip (so far!).
We were still following the alternate route we had been on before our day off in Helena, and our first couple of hours hiking today was following a little-used forest road back up to the CDT at Priest Pass (6000’), a climb of 1500’ which Dave found very taxing with a fully-loaded pack (5-6 days of food).
It was much colder at the Pass and for the next 16km as we followed the Continental Divide northwards. Although there were small patches of pine forest here and there, we mostly hiked through very exposed grassland and the wind was bitterly cold.
After the 16km along the CDT, at around 5pm, we detoured off the trail to follow the route we had worked out to get around the next wildfire trail closure about 15km ahead. Our detour took us down the east side of the mountain on forest roads and through the tiny hamlet of Marysville.
We knew there was a bar/restaurant there from Google, but hadn't planned to stop because it was pricey, according to Google. Instead, we had stopped by the trail earlier and had our dinner. However, as we passed by we were called in for a drink (see above) and realised it would have been a good place to stop in for dinner. Next time!
By the time we left the bar, it was nearly 7:30pm and starting to get dark. We walked for another 30 minutes up out of the valley and found ourselves a place to camp beside the forest road. It began raining lightly while we set up camp.
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